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Celebrating its best fundraising year in school history, Kingswood Oxford (KO) returned to its roots on Sept. 12, hosting a reception for top donors at The Mark Twain House in Hartford -- the school's home from 1918-22.

"KO has experienced significant momentum in terms of both enrollment and fundraising over the past two years, and you are a big part of that," "said Head of School Dennis Bisgaard. "We can't thank you enough for your support."

Donations to the KO Fund hit $1,208,341 in 2012-13, the highest amount ever, powered by a remarkable 100 percent participation rate from KO faculty and staff, Trustees, Trustees Emeriti, and KO Fund volunteers. Furthermore, Upper School enrollment is 6.1percent higher than last year - the largest year-to-year jump since 1999-2000.

During the reception, held in the Great Hall of the Mark Twain Museum Center, Director of Institutional Advancement Debra Coleman Hyde '68 also expressed appreciation to the School's most generous benefactors.

Guests were offered optional private tours of the Mark Twain House, which is where Kingswood School was located until it outgrew the building and moved to its current location in West Hartford.

And, in the shadow of a Twain portrait, keynote speaker Kevin Dougherty, MD '99 reflected on how well his KO education had prepared him not only for medical school, but also for a rewarding career as a physician and for a number of medical-administration positions, as well. A high-honors graduate of Middlebury College, where he majored in Neuroscience, Dougherty earned his MD from Tufts Medical School and completed an internal medicine residency at Yale. He is now a Cardiology Fellow at Tufts Medical Center.